Supplement to the foregoing Voyage.
In the Collection of Harris, besides interweaving several controversial matters respecting this voyage, from an account of it by one Betagh, who was captain of marines in the Speedwell, a long series of remarks on the conduct of Shelvocke by that person, are appended. Neither of these appear to possess sufficient interest, at this distance of time, almost a century, to justify their insertion in our collection, where they would have very uselessly occupied a considerable space. Captain Betagh appears to have been actuated by violent animosity against Captain Shelvocke, whose actions he traduced and misrepresented with the utmost malignity, the innocent cause of his having suffered captivity among the Spaniards in South America, of which some account will be found in the subsequent section. Of all these charges, we have only deemed it expedient to insert the following statement of the circumstances connected with the capture of the Conception, as related by Betagh, which Harris, I. 230, characterizes as "a very extraordinary piece of recent history, and seemingly supported by evidence;" but at this distance of time we have no means of ascertaining to which side the truth belongs.Ed.
"This being the great crisis of the voyage, I shall be more particular in relating the affair of this last prize. This ship was named the Conception, Don Stephen de Recova commander,[1] bound from Calao to Panama, having on board several persons of distinction, particularly the Conde de la Rosa, who had been some time governor of Pisco, and was now going to Spain, laden with flour, sugar, marmalade, et cetera. Now, be it known to all men, that the et cetera was 108,630 pieces of eight, or Spanish dollars: And Shelvocke little thought, when he took this prize, or compiled his book, that I, of all men, should have the exact state of this affair. He often said that he would give the gentlemen owners a fair account; and I have often promised to prove that he did say so. We have now both made our words good, and I have not only an authentic account, but I will also declare how I got it.
"When I was carried prisoner to Lima, I had sufficient leisure to reflect on my misfortunes, and how likely I was to be ruined and the owners cheated; wherefore, to prepare them to defend their just rights, I wrote to one of them the substance of what had occurred to me; how Shelvocke had mismanaged; how arbitrarily he had acted in defiance of their articles, and what were his private intentions in the latter part of the voyage. As soon as I came to London, which was in October, 1721, I confirmed the report of my letter with several new circumstances; for all which performance of my duty, it is, as I suppose, that my name has met with so much reproach in Captain Shelvocke's book. But, besides my advices, the gentlemen owners had many proofs from prisoners and other people. Eleven months after me, being August, 1722, Shelvocke himself arrived, and immediately waited on the gentlemen in the lump for all his transactions; not owning any thing of this prize, which he had unlawfully shared, with every thing else, among twenty-three of his men. Instead of compromising the matter, the gentlemen read him a letter, secured him, and had him the same day confined in Wood-street Compter. A few days after, his pupil, Stewart, arrived at Dover, and was seized by the honest warden of the castle, according to directions, securing also his book of accounts, and brought it along with the prisoner to the owners, from whom I had the book, and copied from it the following statement of the dividends:
| Names. | Quality | Number | Dollars | Eng. |
| of | Money. | |||
| Shares | ||||
| George Shelvocke | Captain | 6 | 14,325 | 2642 10 0 |
| Samuel Rundal | Lieutenant | 2-1/2 | ||
| John Rainer | Cap. Marines | 2-1/2 | ||
| Blowfield Coldsea | Master | 2-1/2 | 4718 | 1100 17 4 |
| Nicholas Adams | Surgeon | 2-1/2 | each | |
| Mathew Stewart | First mate | 2 | ||
| Monsieur La Porte | Second mate | 2 | ||
| George Henshall | Boatswain | 2 | 3775 | 880 16 8 |
| Robert Davenport | Carpenter | 2 | each | |
| William Clark | Gunner | 2 | ||
| James Daniel | Midshipman | 1-1/2 | ||
| David Griffith | Ditto | 1-1/2 | ||
| Christopher Hawkins | Ditto | 1-1/2 | ||
| Oliver Lefevre | Sail-maker | 1-1/2 | ||
| John Doydge | Surgeon's mate | 1-1/2 | ||
| William Morgan | Ditto | 1-1/2 | 2850 | 660 0 0 |
| John Popplestone | Armourer | 1-1/2 | each | |
| James Moyett | Cooper | 1-1/2 | ||
| John Pearson | Carpenter's mate | 1-1/2 | ||
| Geo. Shelvocke, jun. | 1-1/2 | |||
| William Clement | Able seaman | 1 | ||
| John Norris | Ditto | 1 | ||
| James Moulville | Ditto | 1 | ||
| George Gill | Ditto | 1 | ||
| Peter Fero | Ditto | 1 | 1887-1/4 | 440 7 2 |
| John Smith | Ditto | 1 | each | |
| Edward Alcocke | Ditto | 1 | ||
| John Theobald | Barber | 1 | ||
| William Burrows | Old seaman | 3/4 | ||
| Daniel M'Donald | Ditto | 3/4 | ||
| Richard Croft | Ditto | 3/4 | ||
| John Robbins | Grommet, or boy | 1/2 | 943-1/4 | 220 4 2 |
| Benedict Harry | Cook | 1/2 | each | |
| 33 persons in all | 52-1/4 | 98,604-2/3 | 23,007 15 6 |
"The reader will perceive that the sum total of this dividend falls short of what I said the capture amounted to; but, in order to set that matter right, there is a secret article of 627 quadruples of gold, which Shelvocke graciously shared among private friends, each quadruple, or double doubloon; being worth sixteen dollars each, or L. 3:14:8 sterling, at 4s. 8d. the dollar. The value of these is 10,032 dollars, which, added to the sum of the foregoing account, make 108,636-3/4 dollars, or L. 25,348:11:6 sterling in all. Which large sum of money Shelvocke had the prodigious modesty to conceal, under the mysterious et cetera. Stewart's book mentions the double doubloons, but says not a word as to how they were distributed, so that we may imagine they were sunk between the two Shelvockes and Stewart: For, as Stewart was agent, cashier, and paymaster, it was an easy matter to hide a bag of gold from the public, and to divide it afterwards in a committee of two or three."Betagh.
Footnote 1: [(return)]
Shelvocke who certainly ought to have known best, names the ship the Conception de Recova, and her commander Don Joseph Desorio.E.